Turbine Passage of Juvenile and Adult Fish at a Warmwater Hydroelectric Facility in Northeastern Oklahoma: Monitoring Associated with Relicensing

We estimated annual turbine passage rates and susceptibilities of juvenile and adult fish at the Pensacola Dam hydroelectric facility on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees (Grand Lake) in northeastern Oklahoma as part of the relicensing of the facility. Our study was purposefully exploratory in that its primary objective was to determine if turbine passage of valuable fishes was sufficient to warrant more rigorous and expensive studies at this facility. It is the first assessment of turbine passage at a large, high‐head, inland, warmwater hydropower facility. Passed fish were sampled monthly with turbine nets set on the downstream side of the dam at the draft tube openings, but contamination of these samples with fish originating in the tailwater complicated our sampling and analyses. The fish assemblage of Grand Lake in the vicinity of the dam was characterized by monthly sampling with gill nets, trap nets, and electrofishing. Annual estimated passage was about 14.7 million fish, of which more than 99% were small gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum (